The plot itself is well thought out, pulling in several different elements and twisting them to create something new and fantastic. He's quiet but watchful, a horrible but adorable flirt, and also helps drive the plot in surprising ways. Brody plays a surprisingly large role in the plot as well, and his character is probably my favorite. They fell, and fell hard with no turning back, and the manifestations of it added some great elements to the story.Īdriana is full of herself and stuck up, but her friendship with Phe added plenty of things for both girls, as well as some comedic relief.

While the romance between the two seemed a little off to me, the final productive was spot on and beautiful. Taken with Phe instantly, he risks far more than what is made evident at first. Zach is awkward and amusing, sexy yet not cocky or arrogant. With a few other abilities that have a great explanation, Phe's character is inserted into this plot very smoothly. She has an innate burning curiosity and a great ability to piece things together. Phe is an easy character to like and while some of her reactions seemed awkward to me, considering the build up to why she even went to Devenish, they can be explained off. Having watched her family unravel in the aftermath, it wasn't particularly upsetting for her to suddenly want to go across the country to a boarding school. Instead, she is in search of answers after her sister's death. Phe is a new student at Devenish prep, though not because of punishment or some delinquent status. With a striking cast of characters and detailed, fluid writing, Hopcus has pitched a book that will appeal to both the romantics and the supernatural addicts. Mysterious and twisty, Shadow Hills blends romance, science, the supernatural and prep schools in an intriguing, well plotted way. The longer she stays there, the more she suspects that her sister's untimely death and her own destiny are intricately linked to those who reside in Shadow Hills. Phe is determined to get to the bottom of it. Even Zach - the gorgeous stranger Phe meets and immediately begins to lust after - seems as if he is hiding something serious. Not only does Shadow Hills' history boast an unexplained epidemic that decimated hundreds of its citizens in the 1700s, but its modern townies also seem eerily psychic, with the bizarre ability to bend metal.

Once there, Phe quickly realizes that something is deeply amiss in her new town. Hoping to make sense of her sister's sudden demise and the cryptic dreams following it, Phe abandons her bubbly LA life to attend an uptight East Coast preparatory school in Shadow Hills, MA - a school which her sister mysteriously mentioned in her last diary entry before she died.

After her sister Athena's tragic death, it's obvious that grief-stricken Persephone 'Phe' Archer no longer belongs in Los Angeles.

Anastasia hopcus